And knocking out ITGB1 prevented compaction of assembloids and reduced collagen fibre accumulation, meaning integrins are essential for mesenchymal activation and fibrosis. See the paper here for more: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Being able to detect this shape change meant we could perform knockouts and see the shape effects. Knocking out CDH11 prevented the typical fibrotic shape change of assembloids, which means that CDH11-mediated adhesion between mesenchymal cells is critical for triggering fibrosis.

The DETECT Distance Ratio combines this information for an assembloid between timepoints with information about the shape of a healthy assembloid. The higher the DETECT Distance Ratio, the greater the morphological change over time, and the more likely scarring is present.

(See our video here for more on the ECT: www.mpi-cbg.de/research/res...)

We start with the shape metric developed in the DETECT paper (arxiv.org/abs/2212.10883) that uses the Euler Characteristic Transform (ECT) to track topological features of the object (edges, vertices, faces) in multiple directions (the final metric is orientation agnostic).

This is where maths comes in. In this paper, we introduce a shape comparator metric - the DETECT Distance Ratio - which enables the change in shape of these assembloids to be studied over time.

New interdisciplinary math+bio paper! Mouse liver assembloids model periportal architecture and biliary fibrosis. In vitro assembloids modelling the mouse liver periportal region were built to study processes causing scarring (cholestatic injury/biliary fibrosis) and the shape change this causes.

And knocking out ITGB1 prevented compaction of assembloids and reduced collagen fibre accumulation, meaning integrins are essential for mesenchymal activation and fibrosis. See the paper here for more: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Being able to detect this shape change meant we could perform knockouts and see the shape effects. Knocking out CDH11 prevented the typical fibrotic shape change of assembloids, which means that CDH11-mediated adhesion between mesenchymal cells is critical for triggering fibrosis.

The DETECT Distance Ratio combines this information for an assembloid between timepoints with information about the shape of a healthy assembloid. The higher the DETECT Distance Ratio, the greater the morphological change over time, and the more likely scarring is present.

(See our video here for more on the ECT: www.mpi-cbg.de/research/res...)

We start with the shape metric developed in the DETECT paper (published here) that uses the Euler Characteristic Transform (ECT) to track topological features of the object (edges, vertices, faces) in multiple directions (the final metric is orientation agnostic).

This is where maths comes in. In this paper, we introduce a shape comparator metric - the DETECT Distance Ratio - which enables the change in shape of these assembloids to be studied over time.